Case of the Severed Hands
by JessieBell10000
Summary: Holmes and Watson must figure out why someone would cut off Mrs. Alice Cooper's hands


Disclaimer - If anything seems familiar to Arthur Conan Doyle's writings I do not own it. But, if it is different then I am to be congratulated on a job well done, but seriously, instead of being cocky I will only say, "The game's afoot!"  
  
A Case of Severed Hands  
  
I was about to get my cocaine solution and syringe when Lestrade burst into my sitting room. Watson was reading a book, I wasn't sure which one, but I knew that he wasn't paying very close attention because his eyes darted around the room while he tried to concentrate.  
  
The inspector was breathing heavily, but not because he was running, but because of the brisk walk he was making as the snow started to fall. I could tell it was snowing because there were white spots in his hair and on the brown coat he was wearing.  
  
"What is it Lestrade?" I asked slinking back into my chair. I had a feeling that this story was not a short one and judging from the papers in his hands there was concrete evidence against the most likely subject, which I always thought that you should never assume the obvious.  
  
"There was a murder in South London. A Mrs. Alice Cooper was murdered on yesterday and here is the story," he said as he pulled over a chair. "At six o'clock on Saturday an older woman called into Scotland Yard that she heard screams from her neighbor. As we arrived at the scene there was a young woman's body on the floor. The odd thing was that she had no hands.'  
  
'As we entered the house we saw her husband covered in blood cradling the deceased body. We pulled him out of the way and examined the body. She was about twenty and seven years old and the missing hands were cut off in a clean sweep, with what we can't determine, but there were no jagged edges on the wrists. There was blood all over the floor and scattered in other rooms, but other than that there was no other evidence.  
  
'There was no evidence of a break in, but we did find a male ring which suggested that it was a man who did the crime. She had no struggle wounds on the other parts of her body, but the hands were severed off and gone so we don't have that evidence.  
  
'Frankly, we are stumped so I am coming to you," he said laying out the papers. "These papers were found in her jewelry box and I think they may be of some use to you."  
  
"Let me look at these and you can come back later. I shall have a vague idea of the case by tomorrow. But, please give me the name of the husband," I said putting my fingers together and sprawling out my legs.  
  
"His name is David Cooper," Lestrade said pulling on his coat and quickly left the flat. The door slammed and I cringed at the loud noise. When I received a new case I liked quiet for a few moments.  
  
"What do you make of?" I asked Watson. I was always trying to develop his thinking habits like my own. I significantly wanted to do this because he was always letting emotion get in the way of abstract thinking. He picked up the documents and read them all very slowly. He was driving me crazy; there was no need to read slowly for a first glance.  
  
"I think that the main evidence is around the husband, but in most cases the most obvious suspect is never the perpetrator, so it would have to be another man she trusted. The ring suggests that he was a married man, but we didn't have the means to prove that it was a wedding band because we haven't seen it. Also, these letters suggest that two other men are involved, one being a Mr. Ramirez Carlo and a Mr. Frank Montego. That's all I can gather right now," Watson said shutting the book revealing that it was about medical problems in the Southern America.  
  
"Very good Watson, but you neglected to mention that in these eight letters both men proclaim their love for the girl, which means that either one was capable of wanting revenge because she led them on, obviously. That's why I don't trust women, but Mr. Ramirez seems of a more defensive and sadistic nature than Mr. Montego. Also, you neglected to say that in Mr. Ramirez's letter the words revenge, vengeance, and David appear.'  
  
'But, Ramirez didn't want revenge on Alice; he clearly states that it is David who he wants to be rid of. Mr. Montego never mentions revenge at all. He states his good wishes for the couple, but he also states his despair over her decision of David. So these letters are misleading in many ways, but I need to read them again and do some more work. You can leave if you want to, but I will probably be very quiet and, well you know what I'm like," I said as I looked at the papers. There was about no real evidence in the letters, but they may have proved useful for further information and reference.  
  
I sat in that chair all night and found myself in a state of not being able to control my motions. I was definitely not in my body for I found myself consuming a large quantity of tobacco and an unhealthy three pots of coffee. As the same time I was thinking over the evidence, connecting events, and trying to think outside of the box.  
  
All night I sat up and thought. The next day I would go to the scene of the crime and see it for myself. I needed measurements and samples and physical evidence of the crime. I had most of it in my head, but needed the hard evidence to back it up. That ring would also help me make my conclusion.  
  
In the morning Watson came down and in the smoke all I could see was his twisted look of disgust. "Holmes! What did you do last night? Light a fire?" he asked waving his hands to clear the smoke. As he coughed he made his way over to his usual seat.  
  
"I find that last night I was not with myself and I consumed much too much coffee and an unhealthy quantity of cheap tobacco," I said taking the pipe out of my mouth.  
  
"With a man as intelligent as yourself why do you put your body under such horrible influences?" Watson asked, for the thousandth time.  
  
"I told you, they clear my mind of all other thought, you should consider trying it because you are always so tense. These make you open to ideas and thoughts out of the ordinary," I said holding out the pipe towards him.  
  
"No, my health is not what it used to be and I will not subject my body to those disgusting chemicals. Now please put them away," he said pushing the pipe away. I put the pipe in its place and stood up.  
  
"Come Watson we have to go to the scene of the crime," I said walking out the door. I looked back and he was just getting up off the chair. I suppose I should have given him more notice than I did, but he works better under short notice.  
  
The cab I called arrived right on time and we were off to the house. We were approximately one hundred feet from the house when I told the driver to stop and we would walk the rest of the way. I did this so that I wouldn't be as noticed when I reached the house. There were three suspects, but I would let Lestrade and Gregson humiliate themselves before I told them the truth.  
  
When we got into the house I immediately went to the body. It had obviously been moved, because as Lestrade said the husband was cradling the body. Another clue that I found was that the blood stains from where he hands were cut off didn't match where her arms were now.  
  
I picked up the arm and looked at the cut. It was very clean, like the cut of a butcher's knife. Her body was naked, suggesting a sexual assault and the bite mark on her neck suggested it was consensual if anything. There were small lacerations all over her body and several bruises on her abdomen and chest.  
  
I looked at the room. Nothing was knocked over, but there were blood stains all over the house. The scattered blood suggested that she was running from him as he cut her, and then I saw the ring. The ring was a heavy platinum serpent, much like the rings of Southern America. Strange coincidences if I do say so myself, Watson's sudden interest in South America and now this ring. I rather don't like the similarities between Watson's behavior and this case, but it pains me to have to consider him a suspect.  
  
I highly doubt Watson did it because he had no motive, no means, and no time. I hadn't seen him leave the flat at all, the only time he could have done something was when I was at the chemical laboratory and at that Mrs. Hudson surely would have mentioned something to me. There also inevitably would have been some sort of blood in the flat because as I can tell that she bled profusely.  
  
I wrote down all the information I needed to figure out what was going on and who did it. After all, only very few can get the result of an action and piece together the happenings before the incident, but many can get the steps to a result and put them in order to find out the result.  
  
While examining her bedroom I found some short black hair on the pillow. It did not belong to her husband because his hair was a wheat color. The hair was too short to be her own and no one else was there.  
  
I left the house to go to the lab to test the hair to see if it was human or animal. I would be able to check if it was animal or human by looking at it under the microscope. When I was looking for Watson I found him chatting with a woman, about thirty something.  
  
"Come now Watson, time to go," I said dragging him away from the girl. "What information did you receive from the woman?" I asked hoping she was a relative of the victim.  
  
"She is Alice Cooper's sister and very distraught mind you. She told me that her sister was a very loose woman and had at least four men on her tail; David, Ramirez, Frank, and the other she did not mention," he said with a sigh.  
  
"Quite taken with her aren't you?" I asked realizing that this was a set back in the development of his mind.  
  
"Just a little," he admitted pushing his glasses up from slipping off of his nose.  
  
"You are quite the emotional person. I try to deprive you of almost all human feeling and you go and do it again," I said. He never really cared much for the art of deduction and observation, but I wanted to help it come along. Watson was like a test subject for me, to see if I could have the influence of my art rub off on other people, but I suppose I couldn't remove the sentimental part of Watson.  
  
"Holmes, you know that you have some emotions. There is no way that you could lack all feeling," he said using his hands to exaggerate what he was saying. That made me think about hands. If Mrs. Cooper was waving her hands than she wouldn't have had the clean cut. But, if she wasn't fighting then she knew the man and if she knew him I had to know more about her past. I needed to talk to her sister.  
  
I summoned Miss Fergeson in the late afternoon. She showed up in a black dress, but her buttons were done up wrongly, which suggested that she was in a hurry. She also had two different boots on and that means that she was also in a hurry.  
  
"Hello Mr. Holmes," she said as Mrs. Hudson let her in. She was just as Watson described, a jittery woman with red hair and freckles. She seemed nervous so I eased up my approach.  
  
"Hello Miss Fergeson. Please take a seat," I told her. "Now please give me all the information you can on your sister's past."  
  
"Well, my sister was a very loose woman. She had many men so I didn't bother her with them. Her first suitor was Mr. Ramirez Carlo. He was from Mexico in North America, and he was very exotic. They were engaged until Alice met Frank Montego. She broke her engagement with Ramirez for Frank. In the mean time I was engaged to David, and as soon as I was happy Alice took him from me. The only thing that I really deserved in this world was snatched from me by her," at this point her hands were clutched and she was talking through her clenched teeth. "Before the wedding I took David's serpent ring and kept it as a keep sake of my love. I swore that they wouldn't be happy, but I never thought things would excel to this level. I met Carter Rasmusen and he said that justice would be met, and I gave him the ring as a gift. They got married and this is the first time I've seen her since their wedding." She talked about how her sister attracted men and wanted to rid the world of women like her.  
  
"Thank you miss," I said standing up. I handcuffed her and said, "thank you for slipping up like that. You really shouldn't give away such precious information as that." I suggested that Watson inform Lestrade about the capture.  
  
When Lestrade arrived he said, "Why is a woman in custody?"  
  
"Elementary Lestrade, David was her fiancée before Alice got to him. She stole him away and Miss Fergeson swore revenge. She accidentally told me that she had taken the ring and there by giving me the evidence and since she gave it to another man that would explain the short black hairs. But, he was taken with her the first time he saw her so he gained her trust violated her and then realizing what he had done went back to the original plan of homicide, so there by Miss Fergeson is involved and so is Mr. Rasmusen, which Miss Fergeson will lead us right to him," I explained.  
  
"Nice job Holmes," said Lestrade as he took the girl and she led us right to her friend's flat. He was obtained by the government and Watson and I went back to Baker Street.  
  
"How did you deduce that Miss Fergeson was involved?" asked Watson.  
  
"Well, she was not upset that her sister was dead, and any respectable young woman would be. Also, she gave away the information about her friend, Mr. Rasmusen said that justice would be served and I am expecting that by that he meant that Alice would cease to be. Another thing that led me to believe she was involved was the way she looked at the dead body with such malice. No one ever looks upon the dead in hatred unless they have done something worth hating," I said.  
  
"What about the severed hands?" asked Watson.  
  
"The hands were taken because they were evidence. They were probably covered in blood and judging from Miss Fergeson's testimonial she said her sister used her hands to attract men, and she wanted to rid the world of women like that, thus I have come to the conclusion that it was Miss Fergeson and her friend Carter," I exclaimed. I knew that it would take Watson a few moments of thought to understand so I kept quiet.  
  
"You are a genius Holmes," he said.  
  
"Don't be so kind," I joked. "I am not a genius, merely overly intelligent pertaining to certain subjects."  
  
The next day there was an article in the paper,  
  
MURDER OF MRS. ALICE COOPER SOLVED  
  
MRS. Alice Cooper was coldly murdered by her sister  
and her sister's fiancée. Thanks to the efforts of  
Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard this mystery has  
been solved. Detective Gregson has also helped in the  
efforts to solve this case. Other efforts were contributed  
by a Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who is a promising detective  
for the future.  
  
Lestrade and Gregson are due to receive awards on  
Friday at the palace theatre. Mrs. Cooper's funeral  
Service will be held on Friday at South Street Cemetery.  
  
"Watson, read this," I handed him the paper. I was used to this kind of mention in a case. The real Scotland Yarders would get the credit and the glory while I got the satisfaction of another job well done. It doesn't bother me at all, although Watson finds it incredibly unfair.  
  
I find this case ending as it has started, going to get my cocaine solution and syringe.  
  
FIN  
  
If you want to leave me a review go ahead, and if you want to give me any ideas to make my next story better than I would like that a lot.  
  
- *JessieBell* - 


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